Botanical name: Abutilon indicum (L.) Sweet; (Family Malvaceae).
Local names: Coi xay, giang xay, quynh ma.
English names: Country mallow, Indian mallow, Indian abutilon.
Description:
Abutilon indicum (L.) Sweet is an erect woody undershrub. Leaves ovate, cordate irregularly toothed, covered on both surfaces with white down. Flowers solitary, axillary; calyx 5-lobed, tubular below, lobes ovate-acute; corolla yellow, petals 5, connate below and adnate to the tube of the stamens. Ripe carpels 15-20, longer than the calyx, truncate or shortly awned.
Abutilon indicum (L.) Sweet; (Family Malvaceae)
Flowering period: February - April.
Distribution: Wild and cultivated species.
Parts used:
The whole plant is collected in summer and autumn and used fresh or dried.
Chemical composition:
Leaves and other aerial parts contain mucilage, tannin, alkanol, flavonoids, saponins, cyanidin-3-rutinoside, asparagin, ß-amyrin, ß- sitosterol, eudesmol, geraniol, caryophylline, sesquiterpene lactones, tocopherol oil (0.3%), essential oil and eugenol. Seeds yield raffinose and a semi-drying oil consisting of linoleic, oleic, palmitic and stearic acids (Ghani, 2003). Plant also contains gossypetin -8 & 7-glucosides, cyaniding-3-rutnoside (Asolkar et al., 1992).
Therapeutic uses:
The roots and leaves are employed in the treatment of coryza, hyperthermia, headache, dysuria and metrorrhoea, in a daily dose of 4 to 8g of dried plant material in the form of a decoction. The juice of pounded fresh leaves and seeds internally applied is active on furunculosis, dysentery and snake-bite; the residue is used for poultices. The dose of seeds is 8 to 12g per day. A combination with some other plants is prescribed for jaundice and certain post-partum diseases.
